leszkoss
Junior Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2011
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Polish
- Home Country
- Poland
- Current Location
- UK
[SUP]I am again kindly asking for corrections of the following letter:[/SUP]
To **, HR Business Partner
Re – Request for witness statements
Thank you for your letter confirming the termination of my employment.
In the second paragraph of the letter it is stated that “a number of independent witness statements were taken”, and based on the evidence given by those witnesses the company had “reasonable belief” that my behaviour that was complained of “represented a breach of the [company's] Code of Conduct policy and the [company's] Disciplinary policy”
I would like to inform you that was not given an opportunity to familiarize myself with the content of those witness statements.
The [company’s] Disciplinary Policy provides under the section Investigation that:
“After the matter has been fully investigated the results of the investigation will be made available to all the parties concerned but in certain circumstances some details may be withheld, for example, to protect a witness.”
The same policy further provides, under the section Disciplinary Hearing, that:
“[The person subject to disciplinary] will be given reasonable time to prepare for the hearing and will be provided with any documentary evidence/relevant witness statements that [the company] intends to rely upon at the hearing.”
I would also like to inform you that the ACAS statutory Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures provides in section 9 under the heading Inform the employee of the problem, that:
“If it is decided that there is a disciplinary case to answer, the employee should be notified of this in writing. This notification should contain sufficient information about the alleged misconduct or poor performance and its possible consequences to enable the employee to prepare to answer the case at a disciplinary meeting. It would normally be appropriate to provide copies of any written evidence, which may include any witness statements, with the notification.”
You should be aware that at no stage of the disciplinary process was I provided with the witness statements that were inculpating me. Thus, I was not able, or was rather not allowed, to thoroughly present my case and defend myself. I do not see any viable reasons why these statements should not be given to me in the circumstances of the case. I therefore would like to make request for disclosure of the relevant witness statements for the aforementioned reasons.
Please be informed that if any subsequent meetings are arranged I would like to be accompanied during those meetings by a companion to which I have a statutory right.
Yours sincerely
To **, HR Business Partner
Re – Request for witness statements
Thank you for your letter confirming the termination of my employment.
In the second paragraph of the letter it is stated that “a number of independent witness statements were taken”, and based on the evidence given by those witnesses the company had “reasonable belief” that my behaviour that was complained of “represented a breach of the [company's] Code of Conduct policy and the [company's] Disciplinary policy”
I would like to inform you that was not given an opportunity to familiarize myself with the content of those witness statements.
The [company’s] Disciplinary Policy provides under the section Investigation that:
“After the matter has been fully investigated the results of the investigation will be made available to all the parties concerned but in certain circumstances some details may be withheld, for example, to protect a witness.”
The same policy further provides, under the section Disciplinary Hearing, that:
“[The person subject to disciplinary] will be given reasonable time to prepare for the hearing and will be provided with any documentary evidence/relevant witness statements that [the company] intends to rely upon at the hearing.”
I would also like to inform you that the ACAS statutory Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures provides in section 9 under the heading Inform the employee of the problem, that:
“If it is decided that there is a disciplinary case to answer, the employee should be notified of this in writing. This notification should contain sufficient information about the alleged misconduct or poor performance and its possible consequences to enable the employee to prepare to answer the case at a disciplinary meeting. It would normally be appropriate to provide copies of any written evidence, which may include any witness statements, with the notification.”
You should be aware that at no stage of the disciplinary process was I provided with the witness statements that were inculpating me. Thus, I was not able, or was rather not allowed, to thoroughly present my case and defend myself. I do not see any viable reasons why these statements should not be given to me in the circumstances of the case. I therefore would like to make request for disclosure of the relevant witness statements for the aforementioned reasons.
Please be informed that if any subsequent meetings are arranged I would like to be accompanied during those meetings by a companion to which I have a statutory right.
Yours sincerely